Water Delivery Solutions (WDS) is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that automates and streamlines your business operations. It provides a centralized database that ensures real-time inventory data updates and visibility.
This ERP system lets you know exactly what is in the stock, where it is located, and when to reorder for smooth-running operations and preventing stockouts, overstocks, and lost sales. This blog discusses how Water Delivery Solutions ERP can help you track your inventory in real-time and its benefits.
What is real-time inventory management?
Real-time inventory management refers to the proactive monitoring and updating of inventory data. This is possible with technologies like Water Delivery Solution, an ERP system that provides visibility into stock levels across all locations, including warehouses and retail stores.
Unlike traditional inventory management, real-time ERP systems offer an up-to-the-minute view of stocks. You can integrate these systems with tools and technologies, like barcode scanners, RFID tags, and other software solutions, including e-commerce systems.
These tools ensure that you receive all the updated information on what new stock has come in, order fulfillment, and internal transfers across multiple locations, and the inventory data is accurately recorded and maintained at optimal inventory levels.
Challenges in real-time bottled water inventory management
Although real-time inventory management offers greater process efficiency and decision-making, it incurs challenges. These hurdles can hinder successful implementation and sustained operation if not addressed. The common challenges in real-time bottled water inventory management are:
Integration with the existing system
Legacy, proprietary, or disparate systems do not support seamless real-time data exchange. Moreover, information might be spread across departments and systems, creating data silos and complicating a unified real-time inventory view. APIs that integrate disparate systems are complex, time-consuming, and require technical expertise. Mapping and transforming data correctly is complex.
Maintaining data accuracy
The effectiveness of inventory management depends on the accuracy of the data. The manual data entries, miscounting stocks, or incorrect scanning can lead to inaccuracies. Unaccounted inventory due to theft, damage, obsolescence, or administrative errors can impact real-time accuracy. Improper processes for receiving, stocking, picking, and shipping goods can lead to discrepancies between physical inventory and system records.
Cost of implementation
Implementing inventory management includes costs, such as software licenses, hardware, customization, development, training expenses, consultation, implementation, and ongoing support. These aspects can account for higher costs.
Ways Water Delivery Solutions enable real-time inventory tracking
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems consolidate various business processes into a single, integrated suite. This centralized design makes it suitable for enabling real-time inventory tracking by leveraging several key functionalities, like:
Real-time data processing
The ERP facilitates real-time inventory tracking with its prompt data processing capabilities. Whether you receive new stock, pick items for an order, ship goods, or move inventory between locations, the ERP system processes and updates the inventory records in real-time. This eliminates delays associated with manual updates or batch processing.
Modern ERPs, like Water Delivery Solutions, can handle multiple simultaneous transactions without data corruption, ensuring accurate stock updates even in a busy environment.
Centralized data structure
The unified nature of an ERP system provides the foundation for achieving real-time visibility. An ERP system provides a single, centralized database that stores all inventory data. This data includes quantities on hand, location details, product attributes, incoming shipments, outgoing orders, and historical data.
Unlike disparate systems, the ERP system unifies all the data from various departments, breaking down data silos and ensuring that everyone is on the same page. Centralizing data reduces inconsistencies and errors due to manual data entry or duplication.
Automation
Automation is a major aspect of real-time inventory tracking within an ERP, reducing manual efforts and improving efficiency. You can automate data capturing by integrating technologies like barcode scanners, RFID readers, and IoT sensors. When a product is scanned at receiving, put away, or picked, the system automatically updates its status.
ERP can automate various inventory workflows, including creating a purchase order, creating a pick list based on the sales order, or triggering replenishment tasks. Automation minimizes manual data entry, reducing potential human errors and improving inventory data accuracy.
ERP can automatically make inventory adjustments (e.g., returns or transfers) once the process is initiated, ensuring immediate reflection in inventory counts.
Data analytics and BI
ERP offers dashboards and real-time reports for immediate insights into current stock levels, pending orders, inventory turnover rates, and potential stockouts. The system uses predictive models to analyze historical data to anticipate future needs and optimize stock levels.
Business Intelligence (BI) tools enable businesses to monitor inventory metrics, including carrying costs, service levels, and order fulfillment rates. This allows you to identify bottlenecks or areas for improvement instantly. You can also leverage advanced analytics to run “what-if” scenarios to assess the impacts of various inventory decisions on supply chain performance.
System integrations
The ERP system supports multiple integrations that can help you enhance its functionalities.
- You can integrate the supplier’s systems for real-time visibility into incoming shipments, lead times, and vendor-managed inventory (VMI).
- Integrate E-commerce and Point-of-Sale (POS) systems to ensure inventory completion from both online and in-store sales, preventing overselling and improving order accuracy.
- Integrate third-party logistics providers and shipping carriers for real-time tracking of goods in transit and updates on delivery status.
Enhanced visibility
ERP systems offer a complete, transparent view of inventory from raw materials entering the facility to finished goods to be delivered. Real-time visibility provides the precise location of every item within the warehouse, across multiple warehouses, and even in transit.
Real-time data on inventory levels and incoming orders enables you to balance supply and demand, minimizing stockouts and excess inventory. Business owners have access to current, accurate information, enabling them to make fast and informed decisions concerning purchasing, production, sales, and logistics. This facilitates improving customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Key technologies for real-time inventory tracking
AI-driven systems, like Water Delivery Solutions, empower bottled water businesses with real-time visibility and monitoring, leveraging various advanced and robust technologies. The main technologies that support real-time inventory management operations include:
- Artificial intelligence (AI) – Uses algorithms to analyze inventory data to adapt to changing market trends and fulfillment needs.
- Machine learning – Analyzes current and past inventory data to predict future stock needs.
- Barcode scanners – Scan SKUs and ID barcodes to identify products. This empowers businesses and consumers with traceability.
Benefits of real-time inventory tracking with Water Delivery Solutions
For bottled water businesses, real-time inventory tracking is crucial, and its inefficiencies directly impact operational efficiency, customer trust, and profitability. The benefits of implementing Water Delivery Solutions into your business for real-time inventory tracking are:
Improved stock accuracy
The system provides precise bottle counts in various stages, including in the warehouse, on delivery trucks, in transit to customers, and returned empties. This eliminates inventory data discrepancies.
It enables continuous monitoring, allowing easy identification of any unusual losses or misplacement of bottles and addressing issues like theft and damage. Tracking empty bottles is important for the circular economy model, ensuring accurate accounting of empty bottles collected, efficient sanitization and refilling processes, and preventing shortages of reusable containers.
Faster decision-making
The system enables proactive replenishment. You can define a threshold in a warehouse or on a truck to automatically trigger alerts or generate replenishment orders, preventing stockouts and overstocking. The system allows you to prioritize orders based on the availability of water bottles at a specific depot, allowing for immediate decision-making concerning fulfillment. You can track your delivery vehicles or delivery personnel that are underutilized or overutilized based on real-time inventory and delivery progress, improving resource allocation.
Reduced overstocks and stockouts
Having precise and real-time stock visibility enables you to optimize inventory levels in the main warehouse and on delivery vehicles. This prevents over-ordering, tying up capital and storage space, which leads to lost sales. While water doesn’t spoil, bottles can get damaged. Real-time tracking enables you to implement a “First-in, First-out” strategy to ensure that the older stock moves first.
The system assists businesses in effective bottle lifecycle management. For reusable bottles, real-time tracking ensures a steady flow of empty water bottles for cleaning and refilling, preventing disruptions in the sanitization process and ensuring a consistent supply of ready-to-deliver bottles.
Conclusion
Real-time inventory tracking is crucial for bottled water businesses to ensure a consistent supply of water bottles for timely demand fulfillment and enhanced customer satisfaction. Water Delivery Solutions aims to improve the business’s operational efficiency, productivity, and profitability. If you are looking for an integrated bottled water ERP system, book a meeting to discuss your requirements.
He loves to explore. His passion for helping delivery industries in all aspects flows through in the vision he has. In addition to providing smart solution to make delivery process flawless, Ravi also likes to write sometimes to make it easier for people from business industry looking for digital solutions.
